Tudor Vianu (Romanian:[ˈtudorviˈanu]; January 8, 1898 – May 21, 1964) was a Romanianliterary critic,art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, andtranslator. He had a major role on the reception and development ofModernism inRomanian literature andart. He was married toElena Vianu, herself aliterary critic, and was the father ofIon Vianu, a psychiatrist, writer and essayist.
Born inGiurgiu to a Jewish family[1] converted toChristianity ,[2] he completed his primary education in the city, at theIon Maiorescu Gymnasium, followed by theGheorghe Lazăr High School inBucharest. Around 1910, he began writing poetry — which he never published.
In 1915, Vianu became a student at the Department of Philosophy and Law at theUniversity of Bucharest. During the period, Vianu began attendingAlexandru Macedonski'sSymbolist literary circle, and, in 1916, he published a study on Macedonski and later his own verses inFlacăra magazine.
Upon Romania's entry in World War I, he was drafted into theRomanian Army, trained as anartillerycadet inBotoşani, and took part in theMoldavian campaign. In 1918, he returned to Bucharest, where he was editor of Macedonski'sLiteratorul, and resumed his studies, graduating in 1919. Vianu also worked on the editorial staff forConstantin Rădulescu-Motru'sIdeea Europeană and forLuceafărul. In 1921, he began his long collaboration withViaţa Românească, while he contributed toEugen Lovinescu'sSburătorul.
In 1923, he obtained adoctorate in Philosophy at theUniversity of Tübingen, with the thesisDas Wertungsproblem in Schillers Poetik ("The Judgment of Values inSchiller's Poetics"), his first major study inaesthetics (delivered in November 1923). The work was praised byLucian Blaga, who was subsequently Vianu's colleague during their time as staff members forGândirea;[3] the two shared an appreciation ofExpressionism.[4] With Blaga, he stood forGândirea's early modernist tendencies, and grew opposed toNichifor Crainic's intense advocacy of traditionalism (at a time when the magazine's editor,Cezar Petrescu, was occupying a middle position).[5]
With the publishing of hisDualismul artei in 1925 (followed by a long succession of collections of essays and studies), Vianu secured his place in the cultural landscape of modern Romania, and became the titular professor of aesthetics at the University of Bucharest. At around the same period, he distanced himself fromGândirea (which was becoming the mouthpiece of Crainic'sfar right traditionalism), and instead advocateddemocratic government.[6]
Throughout theinterwar period, Vianu was an adversary of thefascistIron Guard, and polemized with its press, becoming the target of attacks serialized inCuvântul.[7] His status as a professor was in peril during theNational Legionary State established by the Guard in 1940, and he felt the imminent danger of physical assaults.[8]Anti-Semitic authorities began alluding to his Jewish origins, and several violent remarks were aimed at him.[2] Following theLegionary Rebellion and the Guard's defeat, he sent a congratulatory telegram to theConducător (lit. 'Leader', the equivalent title to 'il Duce' and 'der Führer')Ion Antonescu.[9] In 1945, after the end ofAntonescu's regime and World War II, he was the recipient of a letter from his friendEugène Ionesco: the document forms a list of intellectuals whom Ionesco harshly criticized for their pro-Iron Guard activism (they includeNae Ionescu,Mircea Eliade,Emil Cioran,Constantin Noica,Dan Botta,Mircea Vulcănescu,Horia Stamatu,Paul Sterian,Mihail Polihroniade,Haig Acterian,Dumitru Cristian Amzăr,Costin Deleanu andPaul Deleanu).[10]
In charge ofRomania's National Theater in 1945, ambassador to theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946, Vianu became an honorary member of theRomanian Academy starting in 1955. He made several concessions to the newCommunist authorities, whichIon Vianu has described as "purely formal"[11] (an assessment shared byIon Papuc, who argued that Vianu joined theRomanian Communist Party "for lack of a way out").[2] He gave active support to literary figures who, as former members of the Iron Guard, faced imprisonment — Vianu was a defense witness in the trial ofTraian Herseni, and, withMihai Ralea, the author of an appeal for the release ofPetre Ţuţea.[2]
During his late years, he translated several ofWilliam Shakespeare's works into Romanian. In the beginning of summer 1964, he completedArghezi, poet al omului ("Arghezi, Poet of Mankind"), carrying the subtitleCântare omului ("A Chant to Mankind"), a work in the field of comparative literature. It began printing on the very day of its author's death, which was due to aheart attack.
Vianu's investigations intocultural history, coupled with his vivid interest in thesociology of culture, allowed him to develop an influential philosophy, which attributed culture a seminal role in shaping human destiny.[12] According to his views, culture, which had liberated humans from natural imperatives, was an asset that intellectuals were required to preserve by intervening in social life.[12]
In his analysis of theAge of Enlightenment and19th-century philosophy, Vianu celebratedHegel for having unified the competing trends ofuniversalistRationalism andethnocentricHistoricism.[12] A sizable part of his analysis was focused on the modern crisis of values, which he attributed to the inability of values to impose themselves on all individuals, and which he evidenced in the ideas of philosophers as diverse asFriedrich Nietzsche,Karl Marx, andSøren Kierkegaard.[12]
